Tag Archives: social media

Andy Weir, author of The Martian, first published this story on his own website one chapter at a time. He’d been posting short stories and chapters of different books on-line for ten years, growing a dedicated following. His readers asked him to produce an ebook version of The Martian to make it easier to read, and this is when the book took off. Suddenly, he had an agent, a book deal and Fox Studios making the movie. Interestingly, the author had once taken three years off work to try and sell his writing to a traditional publisher and failed.

Use Wattpad to find a readership

Wattpad has 8 million monthly visitors and a high proportion of YA users. Writers post their books chapter by chapter, and give it away for free. But some authors see it as a price worth paying in order to find a readership. Lily Carmine’s story, The Lost Boys, clocked up 33 million readers! It was quickly snapped up by Random House.

Broaden your readership using social media

Try combining your words with images for sites such as Instagram, pinterest and Facebook to expose your writing to new readers. Even on sites where visual content isn’t required, images have better visibility in the news feed. I write flash fiction for pure fun and post it on Instagram/my author blog.

Make an ebook

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) enables authors to independently publish their books straight to Kindle. It’s not a passport to getting your work noticed, but if your writing stays in a drawer no-one is going to read it! Producing an ebook is less expensive than making a physical book and is a good way of dipping your toe into the water to see if it sells. Tom Watson, author of the picture book Stick Dog, produced his own ebook because he felt his work was “too far out there” for a traditional publisher. It went on to gain a massive following through word of mouth. Our Electrik Inc books are all available as ebooks.

Do you have any top tips for getting your writing noticed? If so, let us know. We’d love to hear them.

My natural instinct is to be like one of the Grimm Brothers’ elves tiptoeing into the shoemaker’s shop in the middle of the night and leaving him a newly-written book, rather than a pair of boots, to sell the next day. But increasingly writers are being expected to be more visible, engage with readers and market their own stories, particularly with the advent of social media.

I feel conficting emotions about being in the public eye. Using Facebook, Twitter and blogging about my experiences is new to me and somewhat scary as is the notion of becoming a brand, a character, myself. Yet the idea of being able to hear what children think of St Viper’s School for Super Villains is very exciting.

In a recent article, the New York Times asked authors about their experiences using Twitter. Salman Rushdie said, “It allows one to be playful, to get a sense of what is on a lot of people’s minds at any given moment,” while Mat Johnson found that social media enabled him to connect with current and potential readers without a big marketing budget. Most of the writers interviewed said they enjoyed interacting with the people who read their books. Perhaps, some time soon, we’ll see a clip of the elves demonstrating how they make their shoes on YouTube.